Germ theory
The germ theory states that diseases are caused by microorganisms and can then be transmitted via coughing, sneezing ( droplet infection ), kissing, littering, and contaminated food or water. The theory reached its peak between 1870 and 1900, its content is still correct today, but as such it has become a matter of course.
discovery
Louis Pasteur
In 1865 a disease broke out in the south of France that killed the silkworm , causing the silk industry to suffer tremendously. Louis Pasteur was asked for help and, with the help of his microscope, discovered tiny parasites that attacked the diseased silkworms and their food, the leaves of the mulberry . He saw the only solution as the destruction of all infested silkworms and all infested fodder, which saved the silk industry. For Pasteur, what applies to a contagious disease also seemed to apply to others, thus laying the foundation of the germ theory. In previous years there were already increasing voices contradicting the prevailing theory that diseases are caused by miasma - u. a. the report of the Scientific Committee of Inquiry into the Cholera Outbreak of London in 1854 , based on research by John Snow and Henry Whitehead .
Ignaz Semmelweis
The Hungarian Ignaz Semmelweis noted that the death rate of women from childbed fever in Vienna's hospitals was alarmingly high, whereas women who gave birth at home with the help of a midwife died from it much less often. He became aware that the illness was apparently dragged along by the doctors on the way from the autopsy to the operating room. So he tightened the regulations so that the hands must be disinfected before each examination . As a result, the death rate fell.
consequences
Only after Pasteur had set up his theory of germs did a change in the situation become noticeable. Many conservative doctors opposed this, but were gradually forced to comply with the changes. Cleanliness became more and more important in medicine and during the Franco-Prussian War Pasteur forced doctors to boil their instruments before using them on wounded soldiers and to treat their bandages with steam. When Joseph Lister heard about Pasteur's theory of germs, he came to the conclusion that if the wound or surgical incision was sterilized, infections would no longer occur. He was the first to use carbolic acid ( phenol ), was successful with it and thus laid the foundation for antiseptic surgery ( antisepsis ).
Another important consequence of the germ theory was the development of vaccines .
source
- Germ theory and bacteriology - article on the Vorarlberg education server
- further articles on germ theory and bacteriology - article from the Science Museum (in English)
Web links
- Pharmaceutical and medical history - progress chases progress - article on the 150th anniversary of the Pharmazeutische Zeitung online at www.pharmazeutische-zeitung.de
Individual evidence
- ^ General Board of Health, Report of the Committee of Scientific Inquiries in Relation to the Cholera Epidemic of 1854, Eyre and Spottiswoode, London, 1855